4 Quick Tips for Giving a Great Online Presentation

A few weeks ago, I attended an online webinar presentation as an attendee. I really enjoy watching other webinars to learn about the topic and to also look for additional presentation tips, tricks and things to avoid. While I was watching the webinar, I was reminded of several tips for giving an online presentation.

Use multiple monitors (at least two): Have one monitor (1920×1080) for the full screen presentation of your content, code, pages and desktop. Remember to use larger mono-spaced fonts for your source code. Use additional monitors for keeping track of the webinar, attendee list, Q&A, chat window, etc.

Avoid the use of talking head webcams. Show more code, screens and content. Show a picture of the presenter or presenters at the beginning.. I’ve seen effective use of a webcam at the beginning of an online event to say a quick hello and let everyone see you live. During Q&A time, show content, web pages and other information related to the answer. If you want to say a quick goodbye, turn your webcam right at the end.

Use great microphones, a sound mixer and a quiet room to have awesome audio for the webinar. If you are alone, monitor your presentation on a separate machine to hear and see the presentation coming from the webinar server (practice doing this so that you can handle the resulting Internet delay).

Do you have other quick tips for giving online presentations?

If you have tips, tricks and pitfalls you’ve learned from your online presentations, send me an email with what works best for you and what to avoid. I can always improve my own webinars and online videos.